Country First

By Barbara Gordon - Posted on 05 November 2008

At exactly 11:00 p.m. Eastern, Barack Obama has been declared the president-elect of the United States. So we've won. Let the celebration begin!

But when the excitement of the moment subsides -- and of course it will -- there remains a question. What now? For the good of our nation, we've crossed the aisle. We've elected Obama. We've made our statement. But what do we do next? Well, here are my thoughts on how we can continue to pursue the good of our country and our party.

First, on the victory:

While celebration is warranted, this is no time for excessive boasting or gloating in the Obama win. To the extent that we are thrilled at this victory, in the same way millions of Americans are disappointed and even devastated at the thought of McCain's defeat. In fact, there are Republicans -- as hard as it is for us to comprehend -- who are truly terrified for the future of our nation. These voters are heartbroken, and the last thing they need right now is to have to endure the "I told you so"s or "How do you like us now"s or the "Take that"s of overly zealous Obama supporters.

So while we are excited for our candidate and our future, let us show a measure of respect to our fellow voters who felt just as strongly about their candidate as we did, but who are disappointed this evening. Obama has said that he hopes to unify our country, and if he stands a chance to do so, it begins now, and it begins with us.

Second, on the future:

This is only the beginning. We Republicans supporters of Obama have chosen to vote for that candidate in part because we believe that he is better suited for office, but also because we feel that it's time to stand up to our party. So while our campaign has been won, the journey is not complete. If we wish for this short term loss for the GOP to become a long-term win, we must remain active.

We must continue the discourse. We must continue the effort to effect change within our party. We must continue to insist that deficit spending is not acceptable. That war is not always the answer. That our politics must not revolve around one or two divisive social issues. That our party must reconsider its priorities. And we must begin to rebuild the party from the ground up, by supporting local Republican candidates who understand the need to redirect the party.

There are many ways to remain involved. This venue will likely transition into an organization dedicated to reclaiming the Republican party. TheNextRight has a similar objective. And in the nondigital world, it is not difficult to get involved on the ground with a city or county Republican Party headquarters and start vocalizing the need for party reform.

So thanks for all your support and participation over the course of this Presidential race. Congrats to Senator Obama, and congrats to all the voters who made his win possible. Now, let's get out there and take back our party! Here's hoping that by 2012, the Republican Party will be one that we're proud of once again.

I agree, this could be the time for Republicans to make some gains if they drop the liberal bashing and offer alternatives, but with the Limbaugh and Hannity's kool aid cult noise machine in full swing I’m not holding my breath.

While I think that reforming the GOP is certainly possible, several things probably need to happen. For one, the GOP should either return to conservatism as Barry Goldwater Sr. and W. F. Buckley saw it, adopt a more moderate stance, or abandon it altogether-- the current shock jocks who proudly wave the "conservatism" brand are frauds and dangerous propaganda artists. A beneficial side effect of abandoning the likes of Limbaugh, Weiner*, Hannity, and Coulter is the likelihood of using less attack politics to get into office and setting the agenda. Also, Fox would have to move closer to the center as their audience shifts.

Second, they need to recognize the importance of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, and focus on socioeconomic means of tackling issues like abortion and teen sex-- as it stands now, the Christian Right and the GOP are poisoning one another in their tightly coupled relationship.

Finally, as Barbara suggested, a real grassroots-style of doing business means that the people are involved and active, which means that their viewpoints are heard along with those of big business. If the GOP is to have the respect of the people, they need to understand that money is nowhere near as powerful as a motivated, dedicated electorate.

* Michael "Savage"'s real name is Michael Alan Weiner, so I'll keep it that way.

I think it's also time to admit that the party has been WRONG about privatising social security. COMPLETELY AND IRREFUTABLY WRONG. Could you imagine if all our seniors were relying on the free market when the market crashed? Imagine the far greater systemic risk to the economy we'd be facing right now. The safety net that is social security proved its worth and proved it is a superior option to anything the free market can offer. It's time to drop the rhetoric about it being socialist and going to wreck the US(come on now, 80 years later and ascension to sole world superpower they're still claiming it's going to wreck the US? It's just not credible anymore).

I say this as someone who as recently as earlier this year still didn't like SS. But living through a market melt down and thinking long and hard about all the variables that were there to keep it from being far worse than it was, convinced me thoroughly. SS is an excellent idea and we'd be fools to scrap it.